


Diversification

by some_good_clean_fun



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Girlfriends/No Wives, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Not knowing how to deal with having a crush, YouTube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:22:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25823584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/some_good_clean_fun/pseuds/some_good_clean_fun
Summary: On Monday, Danny posts a sketch video. It’s pretty funny and his characterization is excellent, but Drew’s confused. At this point, Danny hasn’t posted a straight up sketch to his channel in three years.
Relationships: Danny Gonzalez/Drew Gooden
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	Diversification

On Monday, Danny posts a sketch video. No commentary. No obvious parallel he’s parodying. Just a 7 minute sketch in which he plays five different characters, all obsessed with different kinds of YouTube creators. There’s the true crime fanatic, the DIY channel emulator, the wannabe beauty guru, the close-up card magic student, and the daily vlogger enthusiast. It’s pretty funny and his characterization is excellent, but Drew’s confused. At this point, Danny hasn’t posted a straight up sketch to his channel in three years.

On Tuesday, Danny posts what appears to be a completely serious true crime video that lasts for forty-seven minutes and thirteen seconds. He has provable facts that Drew googles and discovers are, indeed, completely true. He has video and screenshot inserts. He has a ‘what can we learn from this case?’ part at the end that leans a little Jerry Springer, but is logical and empathetic in equal measure. He has his glasses on, which is honestly distracting, for reasons Drew doesn’t want to dwell on too much. 

On Wednesday, Danny doesn’t post a video, but his twitter is full of anecdotes about glue-gun mishaps and glittery feathers stuck in places.

On Thursday, Danny posts a fifteen minute DIY Halloween Costume tutorial. It’s August. The costume involves neither glitter, nor feathers. The video is, however, informative and entertaining, with a slightly better outcome than any of Danny’s Troom Troom craft videos. Drew watches as Danny glances mournfully at the camera with an ice pack on, feeling very sorry for him in that moment. He also watches as Danny strips shirtless to try on his costume, feeling absolutely nothing at all. Not a thing. Nuh-uh. Not any kind of way.

On Thursday night, Drew texts Danny, asking him about what is clearly a social experiment on par with That Time He Didn’t Go To Tokyo, and Zayden Longzan. 

Danny calls him within fifty-five seconds of receiving the text. 

“My agent told me I need to diversify.”

“Hello to you too. You’re trying to prove why that’s a terrible idea?”

“You think my videos so far have been terrible?”

Danny sounds genuinely hurt, and even though Drew doesn’t know whether to fall for it or not, he doesn’t want to take the chance that Danny’s not just playing.

“No, but, like… aren’t you happy doing what you’re doing?”

“To be honest, it’s been getting a little stale. Just a tiny bit. Just some days. Just, like, whenever I think about having to script, film, and edit a video.”

“Oh.”

Drew knows the feeling of a creative block intimately, but he’s surprised Danny’s experiencing one. When they were planning for their tour, Danny usually had too many competing ideas and their goal was to narrow them down to something workable. Danny has acting and improvisation experience that Drew only dreams about, and he’s done several solo live comedy sets. Drew has no idea how to help him, none at all. But he also doesn't think what Danny's doing is the answer. Or maybe he has trouble coping with change.

“Kurtis’ fans seem content with him looking cute and messing about with his green screen. You, Gus and Eddy can talk about games, consoles and PCs. Jarvis is so charming he could make an entire video about his favorite scenes from TV shows and people will watch regardless of whether they’ve seen what he’s seen. Cody has always posted whatever the fuck he wants however the fuck he wants. I wanna find another niche.”

“I feel like you’re already a cross between Kurtis and Jarvis by this metric.”

“Awww, are you calling me cute and charming?” Danny teases and Drew shifts position because it hits a little too close to home.

“No, just that your fans will watch you regardless of how shitty your content may be.”

“First of all, fuck you, and second of all, you don’t get my YouTube analytics, so you can’t see what I see.”

“So, you’re trying to work out how to pander to your fans and you’ll completely switch gears?” Drew asks, and even he can tell he sounds highly judgmental.

“I’m working out what my audience wants and I’m planning on catering for that, yes.”

“I know you’ve always viewed having a YouTube channel as a business --“

Danny interjects. “Because it is.”

“And I guess I shouldn’t fault you for that, given everything. But what kind of content do _you_ want to be making?”

“I have no fucking clue, hence this week of experimentation.”

“What about your music?”

“I don’t have any solid song ideas. Not enough to meet my contractual obligations.”

Drew doesn't know how true this is. On tour, Danny was constantly coming up with melodies and lyrics. He thinks it's more likely a confidence issue rather than a lack of creativity, but Danny seems steadfast in his plan.

“Well, good luck I guess.”

“Wanna collaborate for my evaluation video?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m free whenever.”

They shoot different times and days back and forth until they come to an agreement, and Drew hangs up the call thinking he probably should’ve been more supportive and less accusatory. 

On Friday, Danny posts a make-up tutorial. He looks really pretty and Drew feels uncomfortable and tight in the lower region of his abdomen again. It seems like Danny's done his research. Drew’s no expert on the beauty community or make-up, but Danny talks about products; from eye primers to shadows to different kinds of brushes with a kind of confidence that’s hard to fake. Danny goes for a look that really highlights the baby blue of his eyes and the pink, sweet arch of his lips, and Drew has to walk around his house a few times to shake off his nervous energy. 

On Saturday, Danny’s video only features his hands, his voice, and a few decks of cards. At this point, Drew has no choice but to admit to himself that his crush has become unwieldy when he watches the video no less than seven times. The skill in Danny’s sleight of hand is admirable. There’s a competence there that has the fine hairs on the back of Drew’s neck tingling, and Danny’s voice, closer to the microphone than usual, and so direct… it’s A Problem. 

On early Sunday morning, Drew calls Danny. He’s been lying awake every night regretting their last conversation, even though they parted on good terms, and he knows he has to address it before he does something truly drastic like post a public apology. 

“I need to say sorry.”

“Hello to you too. What are you saying sorry for? And to whomst?”

“I was a dick to you the other night and I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. The thing is, I get insanely jealous of your talent, and moderately envious of your subs, and a teensy bit desirous of your views, and it results in me being grouchy when really I should be kind.”

“It’s okay. I’m used to your assholish tendencies toward me. I mean, all this sexual tension has to go somewhere.”

Drew stops still, his heart beating so quickly and ferociously, his chest hurts. He takes a deep breath, another. It feels like minutes pass. It’s probably twenty seconds.

“You feel it too?”

There’s another beat and then Danny says, “Wait, what?”

“Haha?” Drew says, the heart that was rapidly thundering sinking deep down inside him. He facepalms, scrunching up his eyes and willing his breathing to come out less shallow and choppy. There’s every possibility he just fucked up immeasurably.

When Danny speaks, he sounds confused, muted. “I can never tell when you’re being sarcastic or serious.”

“I’ll give you a hint -- I’m almost never serious.”

“We still on for tomorrow?”

“Yeah, of course. You, uhh, you accept my apology, right?”

“Yep. I didn’t actually think you needed to make one. But, I appreciate it all the same.”

On Sunday afternoon, Danny posts a vlog of himself playing with Peanut, drinking LaCroix, and doing household chores. He subtitles it ‘Boring Vlog’, and Drew genuinely finds it relaxing. He wishes he was there with Danny, getting to experience all of the mundane life stuff that Danny manages to make look like fun. 

On Monday, Danny doesn’t turn up for their discord conversation or zoom meeting. He doesn’t answer Drew’s texts. And when Drew calls he goes straight to voicemail. Drew contacts their mutual friends but no one knows where Danny is. Drew contemplates filing a missing person’s report, but figures he should wait at least a day. Then again, the first few hours a person’s missing can be crucial, Danny mentioned that in his true crime video. No, he’s overreacting, he has to be. Danny’s most likely dropped his phone and modem in some gigantic, disgusting bathroom accident. 

On Monday afternoon, there’s a knock at Drew’s door, and he answers it without checking who it could be because he’s very keyed up and not precisely in his right mind. 

“I keep thinking about what you said,” Danny says at the same time Drew blurts out, “Oh thank god you’re okay.”

Danny gives him a lop-sided smile, scratches the back of his neck. “Hello.”

Drew crosses his arms awkwardly against his chest. “Hi.” He looks Danny up and down, notes the ruffled appearance and the backpack. “I should invite you in.”

“And will you?” Danny asks, side-stepping by him and making his way into Drew’s living room. 

“I haven’t decided,” Drew says, closing the door behind him. “You gave me quite the fright.”

“I _am_ a spooky boy.”

“I thought it was ho?”

“I’ve said it both ways.”

Drew smiles, sits on the arm of his couch for something to do. Danny’s placed his bag by the coffee table, unscrews the lid to a water bottle and takes a swig before putting the bottle down. He’s standing in the center of Drew’s living room like a player character waiting on a command. 

“You keep thinking about what I said?” Drew prompts, because even though he doesn’t love confrontation, Danny’s flown a little under two and a half hours to talk in person and he doesn’t have the patience to wait for one or the other of them to finally gather enough courage for that to happen.

“It was more the way you said it,” Danny says, fidgeting.

“You always have had difficulty deciphering my tone.”

“Is that all it was? A joke with an awkward punchline?”

“You have no idea how tempting it is to state that that’s the title of your sex tape,” Drew says. “But, no, not really. I thought you meant it, about the tension between us. Guess I suck at deciphering your tone too.”

“Gonna be hard to mistake this,” Danny says, before leaning down and kissing Drew square on the lips. One of Danny’s hands tangles into his hair while the other rests on his shoulder and Drew catalogs every touch between them.

When Drew doesn’t immediately respond, shocked at this show of audacity, Danny pulls back, wide-eyed and blushing. Drew reels him back in for another kiss, soft and sweet. They pull apart for a moment and then return to kissing, deeper and more involved. It feels incredible, to find the ways to make Danny sigh and melt against him, to learn what makes him moan lowly. Danny kisses with all the competence and confidence that Drew has always admired and he's glad he's sitting down, because he's fairly sure he'd collapse if he wasn't.

“Just to be clear – you do think I’m cute and charming?” Danny asks. 

“Yes, I absolutely do,” Drew says, as sarcastic as he can.

On Tuesday, Drew and Danny collaborate on a detailed analysis on which of Danny’s videos attracted the most attention. They do very little to conceal the fact they spent most of the day before making out. Danny’s lips are deeper pink than usual and Drew has a slight beard-rash on his chin. They’re playfully tactile with each other and Drew knows he can’t stop glancing at Danny like he’s half in love. 

It becomes by far the most popular content Danny has posted in months.


End file.
